India Officially Rejects the F-35: Why Delhi Doesn’t Want America’s Top Stealth Fighter
South Asia , Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft
The Indian government has informed U.S. officials that it is not interested in procuring the F-35 fighter, according to a recent report by Bloomberg. American officials stated when speaking anonymously that the Indian government appears unlikely to proceed with any major new defence procurements from the United States, despite Washington having lobbied increasingly hard to press the country to increase defence imports. “The [Indian] government is more interested in a partnership focused on jointly designing and manufacturing defence equipment domestically,” one official stated, with the U.S. offering only very limited options for customisation of the aircraft. Following longstanding calls in Washington for close to a decade to market the F-35 to India, the United States intensified efforts to do so in February, with President Donald Trump personally offering the aircraft as part of a broader strategic and defence partnership.
India’s official rejection of the F-35 follows both the imposition of new tariffs on the country by the United States, worsening relations, as well as the protracted grounding of a British Royal Navy F-35B in India for 39 days due to unknown issues, which drew significant ridicule from netizens and media outlets in the South Asian state. The F-35 was previously considered unlikely to be procured primarily due to the extensive controls the United States imposes on how its fighters are utilised, which are particularly strict for sensitive fifth generation aircraft. Former Air Marshal Anil Chopra summarised prevailing Indian concerns in February as follows, stating that Delhi “remains cautious about the U.S. tendency to exert pressure and abandon allies when its own interests diverge with theirs, as well as potential U.S. expectations for India to distance itself from Russia.” He stressed that “choosing a reliable partner country that won’t impose undue pressure is crucial,” which he strongly implied ruled out the F-35. The extent of the controls imposed has caused concerns even for some of the United States’ closest allies in NATO, with the United Kingdom and Israel being the only clients permitted significant degrees of autonomy in how their fighters can be operated.
The F-35 is one of just two fifth generation fighters in serial production outside China, with Indian Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh having confirmed in the second week of July that talks are ongoing to procure the second of the two fighters the Russian Su-57. These talks have taken place despite years of sustained pressure on Delhi form the United States to distance itself from Russia, particularly in the field of defence ties, with India having effectively ignored prior attempts by Washington to deter it from procuring Russian armaments by threatening to impose economic sanctions. Although India is currently seeking to develop an indigenous fifth generation fighter under the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program, this is not expected to materialise until the late 2030s, and possibly much later, with the county’s major defence programs having consistently faced very serious delays. This leaves the Su-57 as effectively its only near term option to procure fifth generation aircraft. Russia in May made an unprecedented offer to provide the Indian Defence Ministry with full access to the Su-57’s source code as part of a large license production deal, which was considered likely to have significantly further increased the Defence Ministry’s interest. This offer drew a stark contrast to America’s very strict restrictions on the modification or use of the F-35.
No comments:
Post a Comment